"Having kids made me more happy than even winning Wimbledon" - When Chris Evert revealed why she didn't 'mourn her career' after retirement

Chris Evert retired from professional tennis in 1989 after winning 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her sparkling 17-year career. Despite spending the majority of her young life on the tennis court, the American once explained why she never felt the need to look back after hanging up her racket.

Evert got married three times, starting with her wedding to former British No. 1 John Lloyd in 1979, which ended in 1987. She then married American skier Andy Mill, with whom she had three sons, Alexander, Nicholas, and Colton Jack, before their divorce in 2006.

Subsequently, the former World No. 1 tied the knot with Australian golfer Greg Norman in 2008, but their marriage lasted just 15 months. Despite all the ups and downs in her personal life, she credited her family for ensuring that she did not miss tennis.

In an interview with The Telegraph in 2015, Chris Evert explained that she didn't "mourn" the end of her career because the happiness that having children brought her eclipsed the joy she felt at winning her three Wimbledon titles.

"I was married at 32, retired at 34, and had kids at 36. I didn’t mourn my career, because having kids made me more happy than even winning Wimbledon," Chris Evert said.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion has also spoken about how her three sons and motherhood were the "best thing" in her life. Evert further shared that her son Nicholas' wife Rebecca was the "daughter she always wanted."

Chris Evert: "We started the tennis craze, there wasn’t as much pressure and we could have private lives"

Chris Evert - Source: Getty

Another reason why Chris Evert did not miss her professional tennis career was because she felt the tour had changed massively since her playing days. During the aforementioned interview, the American asserted that the sport was more "fun" in the era where she dominated alongside the likes of Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe.

"It’s all so different. I mean, I’m glad I came up in the 70s. So glad. In the beginning, it was more fun. Look at all the people we had: we had Billie-Jean [King] and Martina [Navratilova] and myself and Arthur Ashe and Jimmy [Connors] and John [McEnroe]," Evert said.

Evert acknowledged that they had kicked off the "tennis craze," while still being able to enjoy their privacy. The 18-time Grand Slam champion pointed out that with the invasiveness of social media, modern players didn't have the same luxury.

"We started it, we started the tennis craze, and there wasn’t as much pressure and there wasn’t as much focus on us and we could have private lives. Nowadays players can’t have any privacy, with social media and everything," she added.

Chris Evert also expressed her belief that the WTA players were much closer in her era and would even spend time together off the court. However, she felt that the sport had become a "big business" in more recent times.